VirtuaVerse is an indie sci-fi/cyberpunk point&click adventure game. The story is full of nostalgic references to the golden era of personal computers and hacking, constantly compared to the oppressive dystopian world where everyone is required to have a permanent VR implant. What had started as one geek's attempt to rescue his mysteriously disappeared girlfriend, turns into an epic journey... The game features lovely pixel art graphics, especially beautiful in urban scenes, and very fitting for the plot. Puzzles are logical and reasonable, (almost) no wacky usage of items for unintended purposes. I resorted to the walkthrough 3 times; twice it could've been avoided if I didn't loathe backtracking so much, but the first one was quite tricky. You really have to pay attention to everything that happens on the screen, including the cutscenes and animations. Still, this game is very long, and 3 hints is not that bad. At least I'm happy that I solved both freaky puzzles in the Technomancers realm all by myself. The gameplay is linear, but this simplicity is reassuring - you know that you're not missing any plot branches, so there's no stress of making the right choices. No timed/action sequences, no dead ends, no player death. You can play at your own pace and enjoy this relaxing retro experience. There's no voice acting, but this is also an advantage, meaning that you can click through the dialogs faster. There are minor faults such as the awkward dialog interface, somewhat unsympathetic main character, somewhat unsatisfying ending, and as already mentioned, I'm not keen on backtracking (but there's not a lot of it). Otherwise, it's a fantastic game, and I loved it all the way!
